Shawn and Susie

So this past weekend, I was able to attend my friends wedding in Michigan.  Shawn and Susie are wonderful people individually, and together they make such an adorable and wonderful couple.  I’ve heard their story from so many people, and God truly placed each other in their life for a bigger purpose.

Aside from going to the wedding I was able to reconnect with many of my friends out in D-Town!  I had such a wonderful time catching up and hanging with some pretty amazing people.  I can’t put to words how welcoming and loving they were to me.  I truly miss spending time with them.  Here are some pictures from the weekend for you to enjoy.

Susie and her Dad... GORGEOUS!

Shawn and Susie... THEIR MARRIED!!!

Me, Sincie, and Cibi after a LONG night of dancing

At church with Becky

22…

EEEEK

Yeah… I’m turning 22 in exactly one month!

Hope you all did your taxes by then, cause April 15,2009 isn’t only the day that i turn 22, but tax day…

Ok I’m going to go trust God now!

Merry Christmas

Hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and a

Happy New Year!

… Can’t believe I just did that!

HOLA!!!

These past two weeks have been so hard, with finals and “studious” things happening, that it’s been hard to post… so sorry for that!

But as far as finals go… I rocked it as much as I could. I pretty much had most of my finals the first week of December, so on actually finals week, I had three exams. They were all on Thursday and Friday, which meant that I was watching movies and hanging in the office with Mickey. I ended up not having to take one of my finals cause I did well in the class so I was pretty stoked about that. First final on Thursday… took 15 minutes cause it was a role play I had to do about a suicidal call for my Crisis Intervention class. Friday was my music final, and I think I did well. THat class was harder than I thought, but I got through.

After my final, I went out to Des Plaines, IL to church for this years last Chapter29. Ch29 is a fellowship we have at our church where we learn a little more about God through worship, message and hanging out. It’s been great this past year, but this Ch29 was different. Aby, my very good friend, and I were speaking.

First off… AHHH! I’m still processing the whole experience. I would have to say its was probably the BEST thing I have ever done! If you would like to hear it, I’m sure the podcast of it will be up in the coming weeks. :-)

Now i’m back at home, doing stuff at home to get myself settled for the next few weeks. Hope all of you are doing well in this season… stay warm!

His,
Bri

eeekk… Nov 1 was about 4 weeks ago :-/

Yeah Yeah… I haven’t blogged… shoot me!

Ok, GREs are OVER! I won’t be going to Grad school next year, cause.. well… I need to get a real job, and figure out a few things before that. I know what I want to do but still… need to be slow to jump into things and let God lead, so that is what I’m going to do!

Secondly… Barak Obama is president. I’m glad we had people going out and voting. I voted, not going to state who, cause its not anyone’s business other than Jesus’ and mine. If you voted… good for you. Voting give you the right to complain and demand the things you want for your country. If you didn’t vote, that is on you… I don’t know what I mean by that other than i have nothing good or bad to say. So just go vote, no matter what the election. Its your duty. If you don’t know what the issues are or what who the candidates are… FIND OUT! It’s just being lazy if you don’t.

Next…. I gave Reny (youngest, smarter sister) my guitar. She’s practicing her G, C and Em chords. I want my Jeremiah back, but she has been asking me for YEARS to teach her, so I’m finally doing it.

What else… I don’t know. The holiday season is around the corner, my second favorite holiday (first is Passion week) of the year. For some reason, I’m kind of all over the place with this coming season. There seems to be a lot to do at church, and life in general that I have not been able to see past all the “things to do list.” I guess that is why my head/heart/everything has been so heavy and drained. But I’m sure its just part of the season i’m in in my walk.

Ok… this is long enough… i’m working on doings this more. Maybe doing it weekly, but i need a cool name.. any ideas? What time of the week? I don’t know.. .i’ll just be random!

Three Weeks….

I feel like this past month or so has been nothing but God breaking me into little pieces…

First, my uncle passed away.  In all honesty, I didn’t care too much, because of what I thought i knew of him.  But i soon came to realize that he was changing this ways and came to the Lord.  It broke me cause I didn’t trust God the way I could have.  It just shows, very clearly to me, that the God I serve IS MIGHTY TO SAVE.  It’s been rough on my family because he was 36 years old, and he left a wife and two young kids behind, but God didn’t let them go, so it’s reassuring.  It’s just a a multitude emotions for everyone… but we’re getting through…Never will Forget

So… this summer is WORKOUT 2008 for me and a few of the girls in the city with me.  It’s been crazy cause not only am I transforming my body.. literally, my perspective of my "body image" is slowly changing as well.  For those of you who don’t know this, you’ll know now that i’m SO INSECURE about myself.  I don’t come off that way, but I am.  It’s been good, this change, this physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual change… but it’s been so hard. 

When I mean by hard, i’m saying I’m getting these ridiculous growing pains.  People are hurtful, the past comes to haunt me, and people… people suck a lot of the times.  I’m seriously making through this crazy month only by God’s grace.

Any whoo… life has been hard, but good!  I know that makes no sense, but trust me… I’m ok even if i look like a truck hit me!

I wanted to add a picture of a dance that we did for BAnee… It’s been a while since i’d dance, and I think it’s been such great therapy for me.  Ne whoo.. picture is brought to you by NMathaiPhotography… Nate’s pretty cool I must say!  Enjoy the picture and check him out!

Have a great day guys,
Bri

New York Weekend

New York
It was so awesome to go to NY.  Jerry and Betsy got married this past weekend so a bunch of us from Chicago flew out to NY to partake in the festivities.  I must say the whole trip was a blessing.  I have never been stretched in my faith in God as much as I had been in NY.  It’s hard to say how and why, but it was good, and I’m glad that I was stretched

Rehearsal
Six of us (Anil, Bijoy, Brian, Jaison, Nisha, and I) went to the rehearsal dinner while everyone else  was hanging in the hotel.  The rehearsal went well, and we all ended up not going to the dinner and headed back to the hotel.  When we got there, everyone at the hotel and a few others went to go bowling, but Nisha and I stayed at the hotel because we needed to practice with Sajan (BTW: Totally love this guy).  We were practicing for a little and then Gigi and Bijoy from NY showed up to practice Gigi’s song for when Betsy’s walked in.  When they showed up I ended up going with Michelle to practice the dance with her, even though Neil and Brian went out to bowling.  WE practiced for a little and then Michelle had to get going.  I had gotten back to the room and the guys were still practicing, so I just listened to them.  They all sounded so amazing, I can’t even begin to tell you.  I was stoked to hear them at the wedding.  I was a little scared about singing cause I ended up straining my voice and I was leading on a song… Yeah.. again… God did something amazing again!

We ended up going to the Mathunny sister’s house after practicing, cause everyone was there hanging.  I was a lil peeved, cause we (Brian,Neil, and I) really needed to practice for the dance.  But again, I was stupid, cause God provided us a space in the hotel to practice WITH MIRRORS, as well as energy to do so later that night.  I was really stressed about the dance, cause I wanted it to be the best it could be for Jerry and Betsy!  We ended up sleeping pretty late, but yeah…

Wedding

We went to prayer before we headed out to the church, and Jerry made just about everyone cry.  FREAKIN Jerry… I tried really hard with my makeup to look good.. and he just had to make me cry.. JERK.. It’s k, I kind of like him!

Can I just say, the wedding was BEYOND amazing!  I was nervous about singing “Son of God” for worship because I was leading it.  I didn’t want to crack and sound bad.  I must say, that I don’t give God enough credit about protecting my voice.  Worship at the wedding was BEYOND amazing.  I never worshiped like that at a wedding… ever.  God totally blessed everyone that the wedding!  All the music at the wedding was just breathtaking!

Once we finished singing our two songs, Saj and Gigi sang a song from Michael Card when Betsy walked in.  Jerry had told me that the moment he was looking forward to the most was when Betsy walked in.  Betsy looked GORGEOUS as she walked in with her parents down the aisle.  Jerry looked so happy and Betsy looked so happy.. and the music just made it all work together so well.

After the processional, Sajan, Nisha, Sunil and I went back on to sing Majesty as the final worship song.  OH MAN… I love that song more than i thought I would.  We practiced that song once and it came together so well!  God’s hands were not only there during worship, but throughout the wedding!  It was so awesome!  It was very evident that prayer was behind this whole wedding!

The reception made me so nervous.  The DJ was awesome the MC was a professional MC from the DJ Company, and the food was great.  It was a lot of fun, but i was getting all ansy for the dance.  But again, God blessed it!  We practiced separately and not really at the hall.. but it went well!  Overall it was so much fun!  Best reception ever!

We all ended up hanging out at the hotel the rest of the night… I didn’t got to bed till after 4:30am… yeah… I totally screwed up my sleep cycle. But it was worth it!  I like bonding with people

Going Back Home
WE checked out of the hotel by 12 and headed out to the Mathunny house once again and headed out to Houlihan’s.  It was the 12 of us plus Jolly, Joseph, Sajan and GIgi.  It was so good to just hang out with those guys and everyone from Chicago.  After Houlihan’s we ended up going to Coldstone and afterwards headed out to the airport.  It was sad to leave, but I left with a heavy heart

Heavy Heart
I felt very much at home when in NY, so it just confused me about future decisions.  Specifically about school and career.  There were a lot of other random feelings, but I’m just letting the week pass and hope and pray that God gives me more clarity about some big decisions.  I have recently felt so content about… just about everything… so now feeling uncertain is a “yucky” feeling.  I’m just walking these next couple of days with my heart guarded, my defenses up, and asking for people to pray!  I’ll be ok.. cause I got God and He’s promised me the best of everything… so I trust that

“God’s promises are the assurances He gives to His people so we can walk by faith while we wait for Him to work.”
-Pastor James McDonald

Walking by faith!

YAY FOR BIRTHDAYS!

I’ve been 21 for a week! YAY!

I must say that it was really nice and I am just very blessed with all it’s festivities. Thanks to all my friends, it was a day to remember! I haven’t posted in a while, but I probably won’t for the next two weeks cause I really need to crack the books for finals!

to the books!

See ya’ll later!

Crisis Managment Needed…..

So I read Rincey’s Blog today, and it just reminded me of my “quarter-life crisis” i had last year during this time. Turning 20 was such a big deal for me. I cried my EYES out for being older, not being happy with myself, hating dumb people, not knowing the future, etc… I am happy to say that I am not at that crisis any longer. I am turning the bit 2-1 (21) in 6 days! WOOT WOOT…. I’m neither thrilled about it or sad about it… just another day, another moment in time. If the Lord wills it, I will celebrate my birthday with books and papers… and maybe some dinner…YUMMY!

Am I stressed? YES
Am I frustrated? YES
Do I have too much to do this week? HECK YES!

* I have two papers due tomorrow.
* Second City is coming to UIC, and our Executive Board is invited.. so going to that for two hours
* Then the RHA Town Hall meeting for my Presidency Election for next year… so I got to look fly and bring my brain to the meeting (sometimes I leave my brain in bed)
* Work on my papers till they are done! WAH!
* Practice for Jerry’s dance on Thursday!

I CANNOT WAIT for dance practice… it’s a way I relieve stress…

WORST PART OF IT ALL….. I LEFT JEREMIAH AT HOME IN THE BURBS!!!!!!!!! (Jeremiah is my guitar)

This is a rough week…. I’m going NUTS!

It’s been a while…apparently =-)

I was told by a few (more like one.. you know who you are :-P) that I haven’t blogged in a while… so I figured I do that. Note, it’s only been a week!

So… after my amazing trip to Louisiana, I came back to the city to work. I worked Wednesday and Thursday for a good chunk of the day. On Friday, my and Lauren, my roommate from last year, went to Atlanta, GA for the ACPA Next Generation Conference in conjunction with the organizations annual conference. It was pretty sweet. The hotel we were staying at was INSANE! I have pictures, but I’m just too lazy to post them… maybe later. The whole premise of the conference was “You are the Next Generation in the Student Affairs profession.” It was interesting and there was a lot that I learned about… a lot. Perhaps what I learned from the conference can be its own blog in itself.I got back on Monday and I have been behind on all my work… so I have been stressed, but leaning on God through everything right now! I had a paper due on Tuesday, a test on Thursday, and I have been working on two paper/projects for two other classes. I am pretty much caught up… but those projects are going to be the death of me! (Not literally)

On top of that, the first dance practice for Jerry’s wedding was on Wednesday night. It was GREAT! For the ChiTown Dance, me Brian, Neil, and Michelle are dancing in it. I am pretty stoked about it, but it is crunch time (we just started, I know) it is only 37 days until the wedding… AHH! We got the Hindi dance down… it is going to be pretty cute! And.. well.. I’m not going to ruin the cool stuff we are doing so… YAY FOR DANCING!!!

Two really cool things happened though… Nate’s Photography Challenge pictures were up today. Not all pictures were up but one of Reny’s picture and mine were liked by Nate along with others. That’s kind of cool, cause I think he’s got a good eye. It is sad that I was not the favorite pick, but my twin Rincey (with the help of Biji) won the challenge, and my bff Leena T was a close second. Both pictures were AWESOME! I’ll have to try to open up my eyes more when taking shots.

Second cool thing that happened today was: Boyce Avenue’s CD on iTunes came out today!!! When I found out about this, courtesy of Nisha Mathai, it just made my day! Check these guys out… they are REMARKABLE! I promise you that their music is worth EVERY penny!

I will leave you all with some Boyce Avenue:  This is one of their original songs… SO GOOD!

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Catch ya’ll on the flipside!